In August 2008 I lost my job.
As scary as that was at face value, it turned out to be one of the best things to happen to me.
It was not the first time I had experienced the situation. So the panic that often accompanies these events did not consume me. I had learned first hand, that my world would not end. But I also knew it would change.
The next few months were no time to look for a job like the one I had.
Financial markets were crashing. Our fear-based culture and the media that likes to perpetuate it created a dismal picture. I tried not to take on the negative energy for several reasons.
For one, I’d lived through enough recessions and economic downturns that I knew we would eventually make it to the other side.
But the bigger reason I tuned out the doom and gloom was that I had no intention of continuing the twenty-five-year corporate career path I had carved. I had already worked for two of the largest media companies in the world, CBS and Time Warner. There was no allure in working for another one. Except for maybe health insurance and an expense account!
The truth was I had a great run – but I was done.
I had learned firsthand what really goes on behind the Wizard’s curtain and was battle-worn from fighting the patriarchal bureaucracy. It no longer worked for me.
I knew I wanted to grow. Personally and professionally. I knew that keeping things fresh and trying something different was the secret elixir to staying young and vital.
I also knew that if I wanted that kind of environment, finding another network job was not the answer. I was going to have to do something entirely different and figure out a way to make money in the process.
The reaction I got from most of my circle was: WHAT? Have you lost your mind? Do you know how hard that is? Especially at your age? And you want to write? Don’t you know no one makes money writing!
My reply was that No, I had not lost my mind and Yes, I know it will be a challenge. Besides, if not now, when?
So I jumped. Off the ledge and into the unknown.
I did what I would have looked at with scorn had I heard my story when I was still on the “inside” and too fearful to make that kind of a change. I also knew that sometimes the big changes are not part of some well-thought out plan. Sometimes your entire being tells you this is what you have to do. There is no other choice.
I had jumped before.
When I was teaching seventh grade English in suburban Philadelphia and left to sell radio commercials for a then-fledgling country music station in 1983. That turned out pretty well. It opened the door to a career path I loved for many years. In 1997 I left radio and Washington, DC for New York and what was then the growing world of local cable television, another wise move at the time. But that did not make any of this seem any less scary.
I jumped off the ledge without a well-thought-out plan of what any of what was next would look like. All I was sure of then was that I wanted the literary agent who I had signed with just before I left the big office in the Flatiron district to sell the novel I had been writing in my spare time. My hope was that my next steps would get much clearer when that happened.
As it turned out there were twists and turns to this story I was writing I could never have anticipated.
What I know for sure is this is how it was supposed to unfold. There are no straight lines to where this life takes us.
Had I, the daughter of first-generation Greek-Americans, not chosen this circuitous path out of the apartment I grew up in Glen Oaks on the outskirts of Queens I would have less to write about. A BA from Rider University and an MA from Temple afforded me the educational background.
The life experiences I have had expanded my vision and benefit both my students and my clients. Would I be considered a subject matter expert (SME) in social media and digital marketing had I still been working in the land of let’s wait and see if this stuff catches on? Would that have led me to teaching marketing at NYU, having a podcast and a Substack and writing more books? Would I be a sought after speaker and advisor on how to use story to pitch ideas more effectively?
Probably not.
Today I call myself a storyteller and have been doing so since before it was the trendy thing to do.
I use story in everything I do.
My storytelling skills – the same ones I used to close hundreds of millions of dollars in my corporate days – make my teaching more effective and they make me a more interesting speaker. Of course I use story to write books. Four so far! In my latest, Crafting Your Pitch, A Storytelling Framework I explain how the principles of storytelling are essential to craft a pitch that engages and sells ideas.
About that agent.
She never got me the book deal. So I jumped again and joined the ranks of the self-published.
It’s been quite a ride, some days bumpier than others. But then what isn’t in life?
I have learned that often in life what looks like the worst thing at first turns out to be the best. What I know for sure is that if I had it to do all over, I would jump again!
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